It appears that you may be blocking the ads, and we are fine with
it (read more here).
That said, it would really be awesome if you decided to whitelist our website or make a donation :)
You can also send us Bitcoins (1DEkropiHPWBmfJxogFaXQscfzhmdpTti4)!

Introduction

This guide is intended to provide a comprehensive description of the
encounter with The Spirit Kings in Mogu'shan Vaults. It is targeted at anyone
who desires to understand the fight mechanics.

This guide is updated for World of Warcraft WoD 6.1.2.

The Spirit Kings comprise the fourth encounter in the Mogu'shan Vaults raid
instance. The encounter rather complex, and its difficult increases as time
goes on, leading up to an intense final act.

While the fight puts a strain on all roles in your raid, its most
challenging aspect comes from the large amount of movement that you must do.
Indeed, adjusting your positions and switching from a stacked to a spread-out
formation are the key difficulties you will face.

3. Overview of the Fight

The Spirit Kings encounter is a council-type fight, in which you will face
4 bosses, one at a time, in a predefined order. Each new boss becomes active
when the previous one has been defeated (i.e., killed). Each of the bosses has
his own health pool and his own set of abilities.

Each boss has one ability which he retains after being defeated, and which
he will continue to use against the raid for the remainder of the fight
(while you are fighting the other bosses). This means that the fight becomes
harder as you near the end, reaching its difficulty peak when you are fighting
the final boss.

Because the order of the bosses is always the same, you can easily predict
which combinations of retained abilities you will have to deal with.
We detail this in the guide.

The fight involves a lot of movement, and proper positioning is an
important requirement for success, throughout the course of the fight.

3.1. Video by Inner Sanctum

10-man Heroic kill

4. Qiang the Merciless

Qiang the Merciless is always the first active boss.

4.1. Abilities

Qiang the Merciless makes use of 3 abilities. We describe them below,
starting with the ability that he retains after being defeated.

Flanking Orders summons a row of Mogu warriors. They walk forward
independently of any raid actions, and are unattackable. The wave spawns at a
random edge of the arena and slowly moves across it in a predictable fashion.
The row is not very long, meaning that players can easily avoid it by moving
to either side of it. The warriors constantly deal a massive amount of
Physical damage to all enemies in front of them, essentially one-shotting any
careless raid members who do not move out of their path. The boss uses this
ability every 40 seconds while he is alive, and every 75 seconds after he is
defeated.

Massive Attacks is a frontal cone attack that deals a massive amount
of damage, split between all affected players. The boss uses this ability
every 5 seconds.

Annihilate is an AoE attack that deals a very large amount of
damage in an area on the ground. The spell has a 3-second visual effect on
the ground, before it deals its damage, making it easy to get out of its way.
The boss uses this ability every 40 seconds.

4.2. Strategy

The strategy for defeating Qiang the Merciless can be summarised thus:

Have your tanks tank the boss in the center of the room.

Have your entire raid stacked up in front of the boss, so as to minimise
the damage taken from Massive Attacks.

Your raid will essentially treat this boss as a tank and spank fight. The
only difficulties will arise from avoiding Flanking Orders and Annihilate,
both of which we detail in the sections below.

4.2.1. Flanking Orders

Being in the center of the room allows your tanks to choose an efficient
path to avoid the Flanking Order wall. The rest of the raid must move
accordingly, otherwise the Massive Attacks can kill those still left in front
of the boss.

Once the Flanking Orders have passed, the boss should simply be moved
back to the center.

4.2.2. Annihilate

Whenever the boss casts Annihilate, the ground in front of him begins to
rumble in an unmistakable fashion. All raid members (including tanks) should
move out of the affected area. Everyone should run through the boss, since this
is the shortest path to avoid the affected area. The raid can then simply
remain on the other side of the boss (which will now once again be facing them,
as he has turned to the tank after casting Annihilate).

5. Subetai the Swift

Subetai the Swift is always the second active boss.

5.1. Abilities

Subetai the Swift makes use of 3 abilities. We describe them below,
starting with the one which he retains after being defeated.

Pillage causes Subetai to charge a random raid member and debuff all
players within 8 yards with Pillaged. This debuff, which lasts 15
seconds, reduces damage and healing done by 50%, and increases Physical
damage taken by 50%. The boss casts this ability every 40 seconds.

Volley is a 3-step frontal cone attack. First, Subetai fires a
volley of arrows in a wide cone in front of him, dealing a moderate amount of
Physical damage. A second later, he fires again, but this time the cone is
less wide and the damage is higher. A second after that, Subetai fires a final
volley, in a narrow cone, dealing massive damage.

Rain of Arrows targets a random raid member, and fires a volley of
arrows at that location. All players in an 8-yard radius of this location
are stunned by Pinning Arrows, which deal Physical damage to the players
every second. The Arrows are attackable and killable, something that is
required in order to free the players.

5.2. Strategy

As you can see, the abilities of Subetai require your raid to be spread out,
which makes them rather trivial to deal with. However, depending on which
defeated bosses you are facing at this stage of the fight, this may not
always be easy.

5.2.1. Pillage

Subetai will channel Pillage for a few seconds, and during this time,
players in his vicinity have time to run away. The Pillaged debuff is
only applied at the end of the cast. Having your raid spread out as much as
possible, so that as few players as possible are within 8 yards of one another,
makes avoiding Pillage easier. The players who are unfortunate enough to be
pillaged do not have any way of getting rid of the debuff and its negative
effects, so they must simply endure them.

There are two things that players who have been Pillaged must pay
special attention to.

Do not use any cooldowns (such as DPS or healing cooldowns), since their
effect will be greatly diminished.

Be extra careful not to be hit by Volley, since its damage is
Physical and you are taking increased Physical damage.

5.2.2. Volley

Volley is easily dealt with. All it requires is that players move away from
the front of the boss when this ability is cast. Getting hit by the first
wave of arrows will not always be easy to avoid, but this is hardly
problematic, and it should not kill anyone.

5.2.3. Rain of Arrows

Rain of Arrows is generally neutralized by the fact that your raid is
spread out. Players who are pinned down by the arrows must be freed
immediately by killing the arrows.

It is interesting to note that players can escape the Arrows by using
abilities that grant them immunity, as well as abilities such as
Blink.

5.2.4. Retained Ability Strategy

While Subetai is active, you will have to deal with Qiang's
Flanking Orders. This ability is not very problematic while facing
Subetai, so simply avoid the rows of Mogu warriors as you normally would.

6. Zian of the Endless Shadow

Zian of the Endless Shadow is always the third active boss.

6.1. Abilities

Zian of the Endless Shadow makes use of 3 abilities. We describe them
below, starting with the ability that he retains after being defeated.

Undying Shadows selects the location of of a random
raid member, and a few seconds later summons an attackable add there. The add
fixates on the nearest raid member, and follows that player around, dealing
damage to all players within 10 yards of it. When the add is killed, it forms
a large void zone. Over the course of 30 seconds, the void zone shrinks in
size, until it finally transforms back into the original add. This add then
fixates on the nearest target once more, and the process repeats itself. After
the void zone shrinks for the second time, it disappears entirely, and no add
spawns. Zian casts this ability every 40 seconds while he is alive, and every
85 seconds after he is defeated.

Shadow Blast is an interruptible spell that Zian often casts at
the location of a random raid member. Shadow Blast deals a large amount of
Shadow damage to everyone within 8 yards of the target's location. Zian casts
Shadow Blast every 4-5 seconds.

Charged Shadows is a spell that deals a high amount of Shadow damage
to a player, and then jumps to any targets within 8 yards of that player,
damaging them as well.

6.2. Strategy

Charged Shadows simply requires that your raid spreads out, and
Shadow Blast must always be interrupted. There is no complexity in
dealing with these abilities.

6.2.1. Undying Shadows

The best way of dealing with Undying Shadows can be summarised thus.
Have the person that the Undying Shadows fixate on kite them to the edge of
the room, and then kill the Undying Shadows immediately.

Doing this will result in the void zones generated by Undying Shadows
being out of the way of your raid, and not hampering your movement when
avoiding other abilities.

Even though it is tempting to DPS the Undying Shadows as soon as they
appear, doing this can cause them to leave their void zone in entirely
undesirable locations, which should be avoided.

Ranged DPS players are best suited for DPSing the Undying Shadows.

6.2.2. Retained Ability Strategy

Flanking Orders does not interfere with your raid's strategy for
defeating Zian in any meaningful way.

Pillage is the least problematic of the retained abilities. It simply
requires that your raid members be spread out at least 8 yards apart. Even
when more than one raid member is Pillaged, this is not very serious for
your raid.

7. Meng the Demented

Meng the Demented is always the fourth and final active boss.

7.1. Abilities

Meng the Demented is a bit different from the other Spirit Kings, in the
sense that he has an insanity bar that increases slowly over time. When the
insanity bar reaches maximum capacity, it resets, and the boss' insanity begins
to grow once more. Meng has two passive abilities, only one of which is active
at one time. The two passive abilities alternate, changing each time Meng's
insanity reaches maximum capacity.

Crazed increases Meng's physical damage by 200% of his current
insanity.

Cowardice causes Meng to reflect damage back to the raid, equal to
50% of his current insanity. So, if Meng has 60 Insanity, he will reflect 30%
of the raid's damage.

Meng also has 2 active abilities that he uses regularly. We describe them
below, starting with the ability that he retains after being defeated.

Maddening Shout is a spell which turns all raid members hostile to
one another, allowing them to attack each other. Moreover, it causes all
raid members to suffer Shadow damage every 3 seconds. The effect ends when each
player has sustained 40,000 damage from another player (20,000 in LFR). Meng
casts Maddening Shout every 50 seconds while he is alive, and every 85 seconds
after he is defeated.

Crazy Thought is an interruptible spell that increases Meng's
insanity by 10. He casts this ability very often (every 5 seconds or so).

7.2. Strategy

The strategy for defeating Meng revolves around Maddening Shout. It is also
important to understand how to properly react to his current insanity
state.

7.2.1. Maddening Shout

The strategy for dealing with Maddening Shout is simple. Your entire
raid should be positioned around Meng, spread out loosely. When
Maddening Shout is cast, everyone should move in. Certain players should
be assigned to cast AoE spells that deal the minimum amount of damage needed
to break the effect.

After the effects of Maddening Shout have worn off, your raid can spread
out again.

It is important to note that Maddening Shout is not a mind control, and it
does not cause loss of control of your character in any way. It simply makes
all raid members hostile to you.

It is also very important that no one uses any abilities that have secondary
effects such as stuns, fears, or other debuffs.

7.2.2. Meng's Insanity

As we mentioned above, Meng's insanity increases steadily over time.
Additionally, it can increase faster if he completes casts of
Crazy Thought. With this in mind, you must be prepared that Meng will have
very high insanity several times while he is alive.

When Meng is Crazed, the more insanity he has, the higher the damage
done to the tank will be. When Meng is under the effects of Cowardice,
the more insanity he has, the more damage will be reflected back to your
raid.

The key to handling these aspects correctly is the way in which you
interrupt the Crazy Thought casts that the boss regularly performs.

The idea is to always interrupt the casts when the boss has low insanity,
and to allow him to cast the spell when he has high insanity. The exact amount
of insanity where you should stop interrupting depends on many factors, but
we recommend 60.

Doing this will cause Meng to spend more time at low insanity, and less time
at high insanity. In other words, you are intentionally increasing his insanity
generation, when he is already high on insanity, in order to get him to maximum
insanity (when it is reset to zero) faster.

There are two things you should be aware of regarding Meng's high-insanity
phases.

When the boss is Crazed, the tank will require a large amount of
healing.

When the boss has Cowardice, the raid should stop DPSing in order to
avoid taking excessive damage.

7.2.3. Retained Ability Strategy

One possible problem will be if the path you wanted to take in order to
avoid the Flanking Orders is blocked by a void zone from
Undying Shadows. In this case, the best thing you can do is calculate a
new path, avoiding Flanking Orders on the other side. If this is not possible,
then you should simply run through the Undying Shadows, as their damage is
considerably lower than that of Flanking Orders.

When dealing with Undying Shadows, one of the biggest problems will arise
if your raid is stacked up (such as to deal with Meng's Maddening Shout).
When this happens, DPS players will have to resist the temptation of quickly
killing the Undying Shadows, and the player on whom it has fixated must move
the Shadows out of the raid.

Even though we do not advise you being careless, it should be noted that
even if the Undying Shadows are killed right under your raid, the void zone
will not be very problematic. This is because the damage from the Undying
Shadows void zone is quite low (even in heroic mode, it is only 60,000 per
second; in normal mode, it is much lower than that). The position of the boss
will simply have to be re-adjusted.

Pillage is a problem when you have to stack tightly, such as for
Maddening Shout. In this case, you will have to respect the stacking
constraint, since failing to do so is much more punishing than failing to
spread for Pillage. Fortunately, these abilities to not seem to be cast at the
same time very often.

8. When to Use Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp

On the one hand, using it early allows your raid to stand still and DPS
(since there are fewer abilities to avoid), taking greater advantage of the
cooldown. On the other hand, using it late in the fight means that you get a
boost of DPS during the most difficult part of the encounter, allowing you to
get through it faster.

The choice is yours, and if one strategy turns out to be better than the
other we will update the guide to reflect this.

9. Learning the Fight

As with many other fights, the most important thing to emphasize is that
your raid members all learn to properly handle each mechanic on its own. This
is especially true for the retained abilities of the bosses. Once this
is accomplished, your raid should have no problem overcoming the other
challenges of the encounter.

10. Heroic Mode

The Heroic mode of the encounter against The Spirit Kings makes for a very
challenging fight. While the fight is very difficult, we feel that raids that
have successfully killed the first 3 bosses on Heroic difficulty have what it
takes to defeat The Spirit Kings.

The fight has a rather strict enrage timer, as well as several deadly
mechanics.

10.1. Differences from Normal Mode

In addition to the bosses' increased health, and the increased damage of
all their abilities, there are several key differences from Normal mode. Some
of the old mechanics are slightly changed, and each boss gains a new
ability.

10.1.1. Changed Mechanics

The most important change is that a new boss no longer becomes active when
the previous one dies, but rather when the previous one reaches 30%
health. Therefore, you will have to contend with two bosses active for
short periods of time, several times throughout the fight.

The second change is that Qiang's Flanking Orders ability now creates
two rows of Mogu warriors, instead of one. These two rows appear at the same
time, and behave exactly as they do in Normal mode. The locations and
directions of the two rows appear to be random, and they can sometimes come
from opposite sides, meeting in the middle, or even from the same side and
running almost on top of one another.

10.1.2. New Abilities

Each of the 4 bosses gains a new ability in Heroic mode. Each of these
abilities is on a rather long cooldown (40 seconds), meaning that they will
only come up twice while each boss is alive (in normal circumstances, anyway).
We also feel that it is important to note that none of these abilities is
retained by the bosses after they are defeated.

Qiang the Merciless gains Impervious Shield. The boss places a
shield on himself, which renders him immune to all damage. While the shield is
up, all attacks done to Qiang will be retaliated back to the attackers. The
shield can be dispelled by Mass Dispel and Shattering Throw.

Zian of the Endless Shadow gains Shield of Darkness. The boss
places a shield on himself, which deals 300,000 Shadow damage to the entire
raid whenever a damaging ability hits Zian while the shield is active. The
shield is a magic effect and can be dispelled.

Meng the Demented gains Delirious. This is a buff that the boss
gains, which causes him to gain twice as much insanity as he does normally. The
buff is an enrage effect and can be dispelled.

Subetai the Swift gains Sleight of Hand. This is a 10-second buff
that the boss gains, which causes any attacks done to him while the buff is
active to debuff the attacker, reducing their damage done and armor by 50% for
25 seconds. While Sleight of Hand is active, Subetai can be stunned.

10.2. Strategy

Simply put, your raid will have to deal with all the usual challenges of
the encounter, in addition to which you will need to react accordingly to the
bosses' new abilities. We will summarise this below, before going into more
detail.

Dispelling the bosses is the duty of any players in your raid who have
offensive dispels. In the case of Zian, Shamans' Purge, and
Priests' Dispel Magic and Mass Dispel are very useful. For
Meng, the enrage effect can be dispelled by Hunters' Tranquilizing Shot,
Druids' Soothe, and Rogues' Shiv.

Qiang's shield can only be removed through abilities that generally remove
invulnerabilities, namely Mass Dispel and Shattering Throw.

10.2.1. Stopping DPS

One of the most important parts of the fight, and the one most likely to
cause you problems, is the requirement to stop attacking Qiang and Zian when
they shield themselves, as well as Subetai, when he gains
Sleight of Hand. Even though it is detrimental to attack any of these
bosses at these times, Zian is by far the deadliest, so we will focus on
him, but the general idea also applies to Qiang and Subetai.

The shield is on a predictable timer, so, even though the enrage timer
is quite strict, it is advised to stop attacking the boss a few good seconds
before the shield goes up. DoTs, bleeds, and pet attacks do not trigger the
detonation of Zian's shield, so that is not a problem.

Having a quick dispel on the boss minimises the risk of someone detonating
the shield, and also reduces the amount of time your raid is unable to attack
the boss.

Having said that, you should be prepared for many wipes to this ability,
as it is quite unforgiving.

For Subetai, Sleight of Hand cannot be dispelled, but the boss should be
stunned for as much of the 10-second duration of Sleight of Hand as possible
(stunning him for 10 seconds is possible, but the stuns are subject to
diminishing returns). Players should make sure not to attack him when he is
not stunned.

10.2.2. Transitions/Dealing with Two Bosses at Once

Another very delicate point in the fight is whenever the current boss
reaches 30% health. At this point, the next boss will activate, and you will
have to deal with both of them until the first one is defeated.

Since we still advise using a single tank in Heroic mode, the tank will
have to tank both bosses at once. Doing so will result in a lot of damage,
so both the tank and the healers should be prepared with cooldowns.

Additionally, when the boss that is being brought to 30% health is
Zian, we advise waiting for the Shield of Darkness to be cast and
dispelled before bringing the boss to 30% health, and then using DPS cooldowns
to bring him to 0% before another shield is cast.

The obvious difficulty is that getting the entire raid hit by Pillage can
cause many problems. Fortunately, since the achievement does not appear to
require that you defeat the encounter in the same attempt, you can simply
complete the achievement, wipe, and re-start.

However, this should not be needed, especially if Subetai is the first
or second active boss. Having your entire raid Pillaged will reduce DPS
for a short while, which is not a problem. The greater problem is the increased
damage that the tank will be taking from Subetai, and the reduced healing that
the healers will be doing. We believe that this can be countered with
healing and defensive cooldowns. In the worst case scenario, if the tank dies,
they can be resurrected later.

12. Concluding Remarks

This concludes our guide for the encounter against The Spirit Kings. We
always welcome your comments and suggestions on our forums or by e-mail.